The Fear of Witchcraft: A Psychological Approach to Witches, 2005 (English)Independent thesis Basic level (degree of Bachelor)Student thesis

Abstract [en]

A witch is neither a woman nor a man; she is in between. The witch in literature has always been of great significance. She has had both a marginalized force and a central position. The two characters in Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander have one of these positions each. The story is set in mid-18th century Scotland, and the two women have both traveled in time from the 20th century and bring medical knowledge. For that reason they have unnatural power and are considered witches. The village people form expectations based on assumptions made from what they perceive, and they find what they are looking for. This is based on the theory of the self-fulfilling prophecy where social prejudice is a way for people to find what they are looking for. Due to research and better education, the view of witchcraft has changed over the centuries and the protagonist, Claire, has to balance her intelligence in the medical/healing area. Therefore it is challenging to analyze why the author has chosen to use the time travel theme in her novel and the need for Claire to go back two hundred years in dealing with the topic. Furthermore, it is of interest to discuss how Gabaldon uses the concept and definition of witchcraft and the function of it in Outlander

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages

2005.

Keywords [en]

Gabaldon, Language, Magic, Medical Knowledge, Psychology, Outlander, Witches

Identifiers

URN: urn:nbn:se:hh:diva-12784Local ID: U11850OAI: oai:DiVA.org:hh-12784DiVA, id: diva2:367945

Uppsok

Humanities, Theology

Note

Denna uppsats kan beställas från arkivet / This paper can be ordered from the archive. Kontakta / Contact: arkivet@hh.seAvailable from: 2010-11-09 Created: 2010-11-09Bibliographically approved

Open Access in DiVA

No full text in DiVA

By organisation

School of Humanities (HUM)

Search outside of DiVA

GoogleGoogle ScholarTotal: 1076 hits